Virginia Tech's backcourt gets thinner with loss of Malik Mueller

BLACKSBURG — Virginia Tech's men's basketball program knew it wasn't going to get guard Donte Clark in the fold this season, but now it's also going to have to do without fellow freshman guard Malik Mueller.

Mueller, a 6-foot-3 native of Ehringen, Germany, will have to sit out this season because of issues with initial academic eligibility requirements. He will receive grant-in-aid and will be able to practice this season with the team.

"It came as a surprise to me," said Tech coach James Johnson on Monday at Hokies' media day.

"Malik is an unbelievable young man. I expect him to get something out of this year. He's going to definitely help the team in practice and from the sidelines and I know he's going to work extremely hard on his game this year and make himself better for next year. He'll have four years of eligibility remaining, so he'll do nothing but help our team in the future."

Johnson said Mueller was going to be in the mix for playing time at point guard and shooting guard. Without Mueller and Clark, Tech will need bigger contributions from junior Marquis Rankin, sophomore Adam Smith, junior Will Johnston and freshmen Ben Emelogu and Devin Wilson.

"Honestly, with our backcourt and what we're looking for with the loss of Erick Green in our backcourt, (Mueller) was definitely a guy that was going to challenge for playing time and challenge for that starting position, which is wide open right now," Johnson said.

Green finished up his senior season last year leading the nation with an average of 25 points per game. He was selected in the second round of the NBA draft by the Utah Jazz before being traded to the Denver Nuggets. He's currently on the roster of Montepaschi Siena in the Italian League.

Clark was denied admission in July to Tech for academic reasons. He's a 6-4 guard who was rated by some recruiting services as the one of the top 50 shooting guards in the nation in the class of 2013.

He also was expected to compete for a starting role this season. He has since signed with Massachusetts, where he'll have to sit out this season after being deemed a non-qualifier by the NCAA Clearinghouse.

Tech is coming off a rough first season under Johnson, going 13-19 overall and finishing last in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 4-14 league record. Mueller's late subtraction from the roster puts Tech in an even more unenviable position as it tries to turn things around.

"Aside from just the player aspect, Malik is a great person," said Smith, a 6-1 transfer from UNC-Wilmington who is eligible after sitting out last year under NCAA transfer rules. "He's a friend off the court. Just for us to find that out kind of late notice, it just hurt people because we felt his pain. We felt his pain of not being able to play. As for the team, we've got to do what we've got to do with who we have."